


Maternal Family Tree

by life_of_r3n



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Poetry, poem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26915461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/life_of_r3n/pseuds/life_of_r3n





	Maternal Family Tree

My mother is a tree with roots  
She knew she'd never outgrow  
And I'm the bird that took off  
Without knowing how to quit the wind

In 1958  
Villagers in China banged together pots  
So the sparrows wouldn't land  
Until they fell down from the sky   
One by one  
After them came locusts

My mom told me one day I'd know  
What it felt like to come home   
And it wasn't true  
Maybe her roots stretch skyward  
But I've never stopped running away

I've spent most of my life in the shell of an egg  
Quiet, curled into a fist  
Until the yolk of my hard heart boiled   
And I germinated like a seed  
Taking dirt by mouthfulls

There are palm trees in   
Ecuador that walk  
Up to 20 meters a year  
They do it when they soil erodes and they   
Do it instead of falling 

Sometimes,  
Sheer stubbornness sustains us  
Some women are too ornery to die  
My great aunt lived to 102  
She did it instead of falling

There's a sameness to things  
That's difficult to recognize  
A dry branch and a red eye  
A calloused hand and earthworms  
That single inhalation of breath  
We take to stop from crying  
And the green sky before tornadoes  
And the thick air before tornadoes  
And the silence before tornadoes 

I've never not chased storms  
But I like to believe I dont create them  
Standing in the eye of a tornado  
Perhaps I'll feel at home  
Perhaps my feet will feel the earth and  
Run

My mother is a walking palm  
I'm a sparrow falling from the sky  
Some women are too ornery to die


End file.
